Device for drying and airing clothes and the like



April 3, 1934. E. PETERS 1,953,259

DEVICE FOR DRYING AND AIRING CLOTHES AND THE LIKE Filed DGO. 12, 1931 Patented Apr. 3, 1934 UITED STATES* PATENT GFI-ICE DEVICE Foa DRYING AND AIRING CLOTHES AND THE LIKE in Germany December 16, `193i) 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a device for drying and airing clothes and the like, and of the kind wherein the clothes are suspended from a conveyer comprising endless chains and moved by 5 means of the latter under the discharge apertures of a trunk supplying hot air.

The invention consists inV various improvements as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

According to the invention the trunk is arl ranged within the conveyer, the heating elements are situated inside the trunk, and the air is forced through the trunk in a direction opposite to the travelling direction of the articles. The latter feature in conjunction with a suitable arrangel ment of the heating elements ensures that the articles will be exposed to the hottest air current while they are wet and therefore less liable to be detrimentally affected by the heat, and further that an excessive drying of the articles, with harmful effects on the tissue and colours, will be o-bviated.

Means are also provided for exposing the articles initially to a blast of fresh air in order to straighten out folds and creases and preventing them from being xed in the drying process.

Fig. l of the accompanying drawing represents a side View, partly in section, of an apparatus according to the invention,

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic part View of the con- Aj veying elements, and

Fig. 3 is a top view illustrating the manner of connecting the articles to the conveying elements. The apparatus comprises a cabinet 1 the upper part of which accommodates a conveyer comprising two or more endless chains 3 which are guided on sprocket wheels 6 and 7 mounted on shafts 4 and 5 respectively. 'I'he chains carry transverse rods 2 which are tted with pivoted, gravity-operated levers 10, 1l, whereby the articles are clamped to and suspended from the rods. The lower portion of the conveyer is used for conveying the articles through the cabinet 1, which is provided with an inlet opening 8 at one end and with a delivery opening 9 at the opposite end. For the convenient attachment and delivery of the articles, the shafts 4 and 5 are arranged outside the cabinet.

The drying of the articles is effected by means of hot air supplied through a trunk 17 arranged within the conveyer 3 and formed with apertures 18 situated immediately above the lower part of the conveyer from which the articles are suspended. The air from a fan or blo-wer enters the trunk at 16 and sweeps through the trunk in the direction of the arrow, i. e., opposite the (Clf. 34-12) travelling direction of the articles, which travel froml the cabinet opening 8 tothe delivery opening 9. The air is heated within the trunk by heating elements 19 Whichare distributed along the trunk so that the air will attain a gradual increase in temperature as it sweeps through the trunk. Owing to this arrangement the air currents emitted from therdischarge apertures 18 will be of different temperature, and the articles will during their travel throughl the cabinet be exposed to air currents the temperature of which decreases in proportion as the articles are dried. Thus the highest temperatures come into play while the articles are wet. Exposure of the articles while being dried to very high and harmful temperatures is obviated, the temperatures gradually decreasing during the completion of the drying process.

In order to remove folds and creases from the articles and prevent them from being fixed in the drying process, the trunk is provided with an additional air channel 20 which is preferably insulated from the heating channel 1'? and which feeds fresh air under pressure into a chamber 21 situated near and over the inlet opening 8. There are apertures 22 through which an air blast from the chamber 21 passes downwards along or through the suspended articles, thereby tending to smoo-then out the folds and creases from the articles to be dried.

The clamping levers 10 and 11 turn about pivots 15 and 14 respectively and are adapted to open out in opposite directions. They are arranged on alternate rods 2for the connection to two rods of tubular articles of clothing, in order to enable the air currents to pass through the interior of the latter, as shown in connection with the upper pair of rods 2 in Fig. 3. 'I'he trailing edges of the articles is connected to the clamps 11 each of which is provided with an arm 13 adapted to cooperate with an abutment 12 for opening the clamps and automatically releasing the articles. Fig. 2 shows the clamps 11 in position to be opened by the abutment 12. Subsequently the clamps 10 will reach the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2 and will then be turned by gravity so as to release the leading edge of the article. Being thus completely released, the article will drop outside the cabinet on to a table or the like.

Large articles such as sheets and blankets may also be suspended by means of opposite edges from two adjacent rods in a trough-like formation which will be distended by the air currents for maintaining the fabric taut and smooth during the drying process.

Smaller, plain articles are connected to a single rod with the clamping levers 10, as shown in connection with the lower pair of rods 2 in Fig. 3.

The conveyer may be driven either by hand or by power. Y

The apparatus may be modified within the scope of the appended claims.

wish it to be distinctly understood, that I do not limit myself to the precise construction shown, variations in the arrangement and combination of the several parts being possible according to desire or requirement without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

What I do claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. An apparatus oi the kind referred to for drying clothes and the like, comprising in combination a drying chamber having at one end an inlet and at the other end an outlet for the articles to be dried, a horizontal conveyer arranged in the upper part of said chamber consisting of transversely interconnected endless belts running over sprocket wheels mounted on shafts outside the drying chamber, an air trunk accommodated within and extendedthrough the space enclosed by said conveyer, said trunk having a lateral air inlet at the outlet end of the apparatus and air outlets in the bottom adapted to emit air blasts in downward direction through the lower stretch of the conveyer, a fan for supplying air to the air trunk, groups of heating elements transversely arranged in said trunk, and means for suspending the articles from thelower stretch of the conveyer to catch said air blasts.

2. In a device according to claim l, the combination, with the air trunk, of an air channel in communication with the air trunk at the air inlet end of same so as to be supplied with cold air under pressure, the air channel conducting the cold air to the inlet end of the drying chamber and terminating in front of the air trunk so as to issue the cold air in downward direction through the lower stretch of the conveyer.

3. In a device as claimed in claim l, carrier K means for the articles to be dried in connection with the transverse rods which interconnect the endless belts of the conveyer, said carrier means consisting of gravity operated clamping levers pivoted to said transverse rods, so that they act in opposite directions on adjacents rods, and stops adapted to engage and open the clamping levers of the trailing rod, when said rods are used in pairs for suspending the ,articles to be dried, the clamping levers of the trailing rod being opened previous to the clamping levers on the leading rod, the latter actuating its clamping levers by turning outside the drying chamber when the dried articles issue therefrom.

EUGEN PETERS. 

